This paper reviews the performance of French health care system from an economic viewpoint. It also provides some policy recommendations. The health system in France is regarded as delivering high quality services, with freedom of choice and generally no waiting lists for treatments. Access to...

Finland is committed to high quality and extensive public services and a high level of income redistribution. The heavy tax burden these commitments require is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain due to tax competition and the need to harmonise certain taxes with other EU countries. These...

Health services are largely tax-financed in the United Kingdom and account for 14 per cent of general government spending. This paper analyses how the National Health Service (NHS) has been dealing with the associated expenditure pressures in the pre-1990 set-up and during the “quasi-market”...

Faced with exceptionally rapid population ageing, Korea should address obstacles that lower fertility rates while encouraging higher labour force participation, particularly among women. While public social spending is currently very low, there is pressure for increased outlays on pensions,...

One area where spending discipline will become increasingly important in Hungary is health care. This paper describes the structure of the health care system, highlights outstanding weaknesses and considers ways to make financing more stable and sustainable. The slow progress in modernising the...

This paper examines within an international context, the healthcare system in Hungary. While the system resembles in many of its broad features those of other OECD countries, Hungarians have the lowest life expectancy in the OECD and its rate of increase over the last 20 years has been much...

An ambitious reform to increase efficiency of the Portuguese health care system was launched in 2002. In contrast to previous attempts of gradual reforms, which were never fully implemented, the strategy has been to create a big bang in the health sector, making changes essentially irreversible....

Over the past decade, Portugal has experienced imbalances and inefficiencies in the public sector that have impeded better economic performance. Though Portugal’s total spending as a proportion of GDP is somewhat below the EU average, the rapid and uncontrolled growth of its primary current...

This paper assesses the performance of the United States health system in an international context and discusses potential directions for reform. The US health system is unique among OECD countries in its heavy reliance on the private sector for both financing and delivery of health care. The...

The aim of the recent healthcare reform was to increase the sustainability of healthcare finances, by reducing its negative impact on employment and increasing cost-effectiveness via enhanced competition. Higher budget contributions will help decouple healthcare finances from labour income a...